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Light Quote by Mervyn Peake

“There is a love that equals in its power the love of man for woman and reaches inwards as deeply. It is the love of a man or a woman for their world. For the world of their center where their lives burn genuinely and with a free flame. The love of the diver for his world of wavering light. His…” quote by Mervyn Peake
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““There is a love that equals in its power the love of man for woman and reaches inwards as deeply. It is the love of a man or a woman for their world. For the world of their center where their lives burn genuinely and with a free flame. The love of the diver for his world of wavering light. His world of pearls and tendrils and his breath at his breast. Born as a plunger into the deeps he is at one with every swarm of lime-green fish, with every colored sponge. As he holds himself to the ocean's faery floor, one hand clasped to a bedded whale's rib, he is complete and infinite. Pulse, power and universe sway in his body. He is in love. The love of the painter standing alone and staring, staring at the great colored surface he is making. Standing with him in the room the rearing canvas stares back with tentative shapes halted in their growth, moving in a new rhythm from floor to ceiling. The twisted tubes, the fresh paint squeezed and smeared across the dry on his palette. The dust beneath the easel. The paint has edged along the brushes' handles. The white light in a northern sky is silent. The window gapes as he inhales his world. His world: a rented room, and turpentine. He moves towards his half-born. He is in Love. The rich soil crumbles through the yeoman's fingers. As the pearl diver murmurs, 'I am home' as he moves dimly in strange water-lights, and as the painter mutters, 'I am me' on his lone raft of floorboards, so the slow landsman on his acre'd marl - says with dark Fuchsia on her twisting staircase, 'I am home.””

Mervyn Peake

About This Quote

The passage describes love as a profound, all‑encompassing force that connects a person to their inner world, nature, and creative expression, merging identity with the universe.

In simple terms: Love binds self, world, and art.

Key Takeaway

Embrace love as a creative, unifying force.

Themes

creativity connection identity spirituality

Mood

introspective poetic inspirational

Type

philosophical artistic

When to use this quote

  • artistic creation
  • diving
  • painting
  • self‑discovery
  • spiritual practice

Key Concepts

holism transcendence

Questions to Reflect On

  • How does this love shape your work?
  • Can love be both personal and universal?
A Different Perspective

Such idealized love may ignore practical limits or personal boundaries.

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